BELLE GUNNESS

(1859-1930)

BELLE GUNNESS

(1859-1930)

A woman alone in the world has to find a way to take care of herself. In the late 19^th century, a woman named Belle Gunness found a foolproof way to support herself by marrying well and killing often.

Bell Gunness was born Brynhild Paulschatter in 1859 in Norway and immigrated to America in 1881. There are conflicting stories of Belle’s childhood. One source said she was raised in poverty and had to take jobs farming to raise the money for the trip to the US. Another said her father, Peter Paulsen was a traveling conjurer and magician and that Belle danced the high wire. But we do know that suspicious deaths and fires soon followed her arrival. At six feet and 200 pounds, Belle had no trouble attracting a husband.

Within three years, Belle was married to Albert Sorenson. The two ran a candy store in Chicago and had two children; both infants died and now are feared to have been two of Belle’s first little victims. One thing that Belle made sure of was that her husbands had plenty of life insurance…a girl has to protect herself against the fickle fates. Not only did she make sure there was insurance on her husband but her home and store, too. Both of these conveniently burned down, and Belle and Albert collected the insurance and bought a new home. But Belle was not much of a sharer and her husband fell ill and died. The curious thing was that he happened to die on the day two different life insurance policies overlapped…she collected double. Smart girl.  She used the insurance money to buy a farm.

More suspicious deaths followed. She next married Peter Gunness, a widower with an infant daughter. This child died soon after the nuptials; like I said, she doesn’t share well.  After this death, Peter sent his other child, Swanheld, to stay with relatives, thus probably saving her life.

Peter was a butcher, and one day a meat grinder fell off a shelf and killed him. Think about that. The meat grinder falling off a shelf is certainly not that suspicious, but the fact that Peter was under the shelf, to me, is. Taking a nap, perhaps?

The real story is more like what Gunness’s daughter was heard to tell her schoolmates, “My mama killed my Papa. She hit him with a meat cleaver and he died. Don’t tell a soul.” Now that I believe.

Next, let’s meet Mads Sorenson, Belle’s next husband.  With this husband, Belle had four children, Caroline, Axel, Myrtle, and Lucy, along with a foster child, Jennie Olsen.  I guess at this point, Belle didn’t mind sharing the attention with children. But maybe, not. Caroline and Axel died of acute colitis whose symptoms match those of strychnine poison. Mads fell ill and died soon after. The first doctor said it was poison, but the family doctor said heart failure. And that assessment stood.  

Belle’s next idea was to post in lovelorn columns in the newspapers to bring wealthy men to the farm. When they arrived, she would tell them she needed money to pay off the mortgage on the farm. The men would then get this money for her and would never be seen again. As you can see from the photos here, Belle was not an extremely attractive woman, but she must have had some appeal or these men would not have been so easily swayed to pay the mortgage of a woman they barely knew. The following is a list of some of the men who responded to Belle’s ad and who were never seen or heard from again, but it is certainly not a complete list:

·         John Moo

·         Henry Gyrholdt

·         Olaf Sverherus

·         B. Budsbury

·         Olaf Lindblom

·         Andrew Hegelein

In 1908, Andrew Hegelein’s family became suspicious when they heard nothing from Harold. Their inquiries got the authorities to come to the farm to investigate. This began the excavation of the property and the uncovering of the many murders of Belle Gunness.

                At some point, the farmhouse itself burned down and four skeletons were found. When all was said and done, 40 men and children’s remains were found including those of the foster child Jennie and Belle’s children Lucy, 9; Myrtle, 11; and Phillip Gunness, 5. It is believed that Belle killed these men and children, dismembered them and fed them to the pigs.

Belle disappeared. Maybe. There was a headless female found in the fire and a set of metal bridgework that could be identified as Belle’s, making the police believe that Belle had been caught in her own fire. But here’s the problem with that conclusion. This was Belle’s house. Of course, you would expect to find her bridgework there, but not always in her mouth.  Belle seems like a woman who might save her teeth for a special occasion, like the arrival of a new man from the lovelorn ad. So, it is possible that although the bridge was hers; the headless body was not.

               Let’s now take a look at another player at Belle’s ranch, hired hand, RayLampshere. With Belle assumed dead in the fire, on May 22, 1908, Ray was arrested for the arson and the murders. It turns out he is the one who knew all of Belle’s crimes, and now that he was being charged with them, he was willing to talk. He claimed she was not one of the victims of the fire. She had planned it all. She went to Chicago and found a housekeeper and brought her back to the farm. This woman was the headless corpse found in the fire. The interesting thing was that this woman was nowhere near six feet, as Belle was, but she was identified as Belle anyway. Belle, in the meantime, had cleared out all the bank accounts, set fire to the house and farm and moved on.

                In 2007, forensic anthropologist Stephen Hawrocki and some of his grad students started to investigate the alleged death of Belle Gunness. The first step was having the body exhumed from Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, that had been assumed was Belle’s. What was found was that the alleged Belle’s bones were intermingled with those of the children. It had always been believed that the children were buried separately. So, they next exhumed what was in the graves of Lucy, Myrtle, and Phillip.  All this digging of bones never gave any real results.

                Many sightings of Belle went on for years, but the most promising was a woman named Edith Carlson, who seemed to resemble Belle. But she died in Los Angeles as she awaited trial for murder.

                So, ended the story of Belle Gunness, who spent most of her adult life wreaking havoc in the lives of all who crossed her path.

               

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